1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a single-lens reflex camera, and particularly to an image pickup apparatus having a mechanism to suppress mirror bounce.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some image pickup apparatuses such as single-lens reflex cameras, a mirror enters a shooting optical path at the time of observation through a viewfinder and guides subject light to a finder optical system and a focus detection unit, and the mirror retracts from the shooting optical path at the time of shooting and guides subject light to a silver salt film or an image pickup device.
In such image pickup apparatuses, when the mirror enters the shooting optical path, the mirror is positioned at a predetermined position by coming into contact with a stopper provided in a mirror box, but bounce of the mirror occurring due to a collision with the stopper is preferably suppressed. This is because by suppressing bounce of the mirror, a finder image can be stabilized, and also, focus detection can be started at an early stage.
The position at which the mirror is stopped in the shooting optical path by the stopper is preferably adjustable because the image pickup apparatuses have manufacturing errors. It is thus preferable to provide the image pickup apparatuses with a mechanism to suppress bounce of the mirror and a mechanism to adjust the position of the stopper with which the mirror comes into contact, in other words, the angle of the mirror.
Accordingly, there has been proposed an image pickup apparatus having an eccentric pin for adjusting the angle of a mirror and a bounce suppressing member (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H09-203972). Also, there has been proposed an image pickup apparatus in which a mirror angle positioning stopper and a bounce suppressing member rotate integrally with each other to adjust the angle of a mirror (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2008-287110).
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H09-203972, an angle adjustment unit for a sub mirror and a position adjustment unit for the bounce suppressing member are separately provided, and hence when the angle of the sub mirror is adjusted, the positional relationship between the bounce suppressing member and the sub mirror changes. When this positional relationship changes, however, the time it takes for bounce of the mirror to end changes, and hence every time the angle of the sub mirror is adjusted, it is necessary to adjust the position of the bounce suppressing member as well, and as a result, assembling the image pickup apparatus requires time and effort.
On the other hand, according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2008-287110, when the position of the stopper with which a sub mirror comes into contact with is adjusted, the positional relationship between the sub mirror and the bounce suppressing member is unchanged. However, a holding member that adjusts the position is provided with the stopper and the bounce suppressing member, and hence a relatively large installation space is required, which stands in the way of making the image pickup apparatus more compact.